Date   : Sun, 25 Aug 2002 08:56:37 +0100
From   : Mike Tomlinson <mike@...>
Subject: Re: *DRIVE and Torch Z80

In article <OE74QXmBRhrgqJx8GAR00004c12@...>, Dawn and Austin
<dawnandoz@...> writes

>Is there a way I can *CONFIGURE (or otherwise effect) my Master 128 to
>default to drive 1 instead of drive 0.

Don't think so, you'll need to change the drive select links on the
drives, or swap them over if your cable has a twist in it.

>Also, I can't get any sense from my internal Torch Z80 co-processor.  I can
>*MCP into the ROM based CP/M ok, but then it informs me it is 'Attempting
>Connection to.....' for about a minute before returning a 'Press any key to
>continue...' error and eventually displaying a disk fault before repeating
>the whole process ad infinitum.

It sounds like it's trying to connect to an Econet server.  Torch
included networking in the CP/N OS.  Does your Master have an Econet
module fitted?

What happens if you have a disk (any formatted disk) in drive 0?

Please reproduce the exact error messages you receive when you type
*MCP.

Note you also cannot use a BBC B MCP ROM in the Master - it has to be
Master specific.  If you type *HELP, what version of MCP is reported?
If it's v0.41, this is the first release and is for the Model B only.  

On later releases of MCP, three letters followed the version number
(i.e. "Torch MCP v1.22 (ABM)").  The last letter was "L" for BBC B
machines with the InteL 8271 disc controller,  "W" for the Western
Digital 177x disc controller, and "M" for the Master.  

The MCP ROM I have here for the Master is v1.22.  This works OK on
Richard Gellman's BeebEm running in Master mode, if you would like me to
email you the file to try (of course, it reports the Z80 card as missing
as this isn't emulated.)

>  My sole experience of CP/M was seeing it
>running on an Amstrad CPC664 in the late 80's.  Perhaps I need some
>disk-based software to complement the CP/M Rom

No, it should just print "MCP", access the disk and then give you an A:>
prompt.  You can then type HELP to view a list of the commands available
in the CCCP ROM on the Torch card.

> (or perhaps my Torch card is
>dead?)

Usually this just results in a hang or "No Z80!" being produced
repeatedly when *MCP is executed.

> There's very little information available on this kit, so if anyone
>could help I'd be very grateful.

This is probably getting a bit exotic for this list, so if anyone would
prefer this, I'd be happy to take it to email.

M.

-- 
     Security-wise, NT is a server with a 'Kick me' 
     sign taped to it.         -- Peter Gutmann